Connected
by hogwartsisawesome
Summary: Harley has been having a hard time. When his small town was attacked by extremes soldiers the fires and extreme heat killed his sister and now his mother is in the hospital dying. Will his friend the mechanic come and help him or will he be left to cope alone
1. Chapter 1

**Connected**

Harley had been having a tough year. First the extremist virus s had ruined his Christmas and after his meeting with "The Mechanic" he learned it had killed his 6-year-old sister and gravely injured his mother. Now in early march, his mother's condition was getting worse, Harley spent every day after school working on his inventions in the garage tricked out by Tony Stark. He had no more friends they all pitied him and Harley just wanted comfort not pity, no one understood him. Maybe if his dad was still with them his mother wouldn't have gotten hurt and his sister wouldn't have died.

So his life sucked, Harley was stuck with a sitter while his mom was in the hospitable but the sitter was an old man who didn't know how to take care of a ten year olds needs. Luckily Harley knew how to take care of himself as he usually did because his mother didn't have much time for him and his sister before the "incident" as Harley thought of it. While Harley was self immersed in his thoughts and work when he was tapped on the shoulder by his "sitter" who handed him the phone.

"Hello is this Harley,"

"Yes?"

" Kid, I am so sorry to tell you this but your mother isn't doing do well, you should get over here as soon as you can."

'Uh, this isn't good,' Harley thought, as he quickly gathered some money and headed towards the bus stop. He boarded the bus quickly told the driver to get him to the hospital. He sat down and took out the latest gadget he had been working on, he was trying to make a way to protect people from extreme heat like the extremis maybe retro reflectors of some kind, he wasn't sure yet but when the designs are done he would find a way to send them to mechanic so he could use them on his suit.

This led Harley to think about the extreme heats of the extremist attacks and how the extremist soldiers slowly turned up the heat and burnt others. He thought about how his six-year-old sister had been forced to watch this happen from her and her mothers hiding place in the diner. Thinking about this lead Harley to have a flashback, which was a newer experience for him, Harley had been running from the soldiers when he spotted his mother and sister. They saw Harley outside with the strange Man who he heard his mother identify as Tony Stark. When the extremist soldiers shot a ray near Harley and her Dora watch Lizzie couldn't stand it anymore. She yelled stop, and seeing an easy target the extremist soldier took a shot killing Lizzie and exposing her and Harley's mother to extreme heat, Harley watching all the while.

"Hey kid were here," the bus driver said looking over his shoulder.

Harley entered the looming building with a feeling of loathing, he hates how the adults here always pretend as if nothing is wrong and everything will be fine.

Just then someone interrupts his thoughts, a nurse named Janet, who greets him same as always "What are you building now, Harley," greets him instead somberly.

" You better get in their she's holding on just for you now go." Harley rushes up the familiar staircase with tears in his eyes. He walks into the hospital room where his mother, barely recognizable from her burns, is on the bed waiting for him.

"Harley," she manages to croak out, "Remember that I love you and I will always be with you," she states tearfully.

"I am not going to be with you much longer and I have found someone to love you almost as much as I have," she slowly drifts off to sleep holding her sons hand.

Harley sits there for the night, as it is a Friday. At around 2 AM, Harley wakes up to feel his mothers ice cold hand and seeing her wide open eyes left lifeless. Harley would never admit it but he ran out of the room crying for the doctor. Immediately hearing his pleas the doctors and nurses that have been caring for his mother rush over, Janet is the first to get there, she realizes there is no hope for Harley's mother and rushes to the young boy and wraps her arms around him shushing him,

"Harley, everything will be fine, your mother is with your sister now, she's happier and no longer in pain."

Harley shocked manages to choke out,

" I have no one nothings alright,"

and let's out some more sobs as the doctors around him take his mothers cold body away. He doesn't even notice because he's so grief stricken, finally Harley manages to cry himself to sleep in Janet's arms.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A month before

Tony had changed since Christmas one reason was because he realized what life was really about, and for that reason he abandoned his suits and destroyed them. That reason was Virginia "Pepper" Potts, his personal assistant for eleven years before becoming the CEO of Stark Industries, when Tony did not think he would live due to palladium poisoning. Tony had had Bruce Banner living with him in the tower now that the villa in Malibu had been destroyed. Bruce AKA the Hulk was the only Avenger Tony knew the whereabouts of. The two had talked often and when Tony and Pepper decided to move to the tower due to the fact that their villa was destroyed Tony asked Pepper if she would mind having Bruce live with them as well. Pepper had realized the good a friend like Bruce would be when she, Jarvis and Rhodey couldn't be there for Tony and immediately agreed. Now Bruce and Tony where in the lab whenever Pepper was asleep or resting and trying to find a way to flush extremis out of the bodies of those affected. They had finally realized due to pepper remembering how Killian had said extremis took place in the brain, and with some help from Jarvis they had found a small abnormality on Pepper's brain that had never been there before. Bruce studied the scans then made a chemical mix that successfully flushed the virus out of her body. Pepper was cured in early February and since then Tony had been wondering about Harley Keener.

Sure he had given the kid a bunch of toys and gadgets for his workshop but he still wondered what had happened to the kid. Tony found a way to contact the kid's mother to ask permission if he could check up on Harley legally. He had finally got up the nerve to call the diner he had found out she worked at, he was left waiting as the phone rang, when someone picked up he asked

"Hello, may I please speak to Mrs. Keener,"

"Oh, poor Julie, so sad, her girl dead and her in the hospital since the attacks."

Tony was nothing less than shocked the kid didn't deserve anything like this and it was Tony's fault. His fault, the kid's sister was dead and his fault that the mother was in the hospital.

"Well sorry I can't help you, "Thank you anyway," Tony responded (see he has changed).

He hung up and realized he would have to tell Pepper what had really happened last Christmas.

As soon as Pepper, returned home from work and Tony greeted her with a cup of coffee, she grew suspicious.

"Tony, what's wrong, your usually in the lab with Bruce till dinner?"

"Well Bruce isn't here he went to go visit an old colleague."

"Tony?"

"Fine, it's time I told you what happened during Christmas."

Pepper was surprised Tony usually told her everything she had asked him many times over the last few months about what had happened an the usually talkative Tony just wouldn't talk about it. Pepper grabbed the coffee cup and plopped onto the couch and with that Tony began his story. Pepper was astounded, this was so unlike Tony to admit he needed help and then to get it from a ten-year-old boy. So when Tony told Pepper about getting permission to check up on Harley and finding out his mom ended up in the hospital because of the extremis attack brought tears to her eyes. She saw that more than anything Tony wanted to help this kid.

"So Pep, I'm asking permission to go to visit Harley's mom and see how she is doing I will ask her permission about checking up on Harley."

After a quick tears nod and hug Pepper told Tony off for not telling her sooner before arranging Happy to go to Tennessee with Tony on the jet. As soon as Tony got there he had Happy drive him to the hospital quick as possible. When he got there he walked to the front desk where a middle aged African American nurse, identified by the pin on her shirt as Janet looked up as he entered. In shock on seeing the billionaire at the small hospital she managed to squeak out "How may I help you?"

"May I speak to Julie Keener?"

Tony enquired politely (shocking right?). The nurse still blinking and pinching herself every other minute to make sure this wasn't just a dream, led Tony to the room Mrs. Keener was situated in.

"Julie," said as she knocked politely before entering,

"You have a guest."

Mrs. Keener managed to sit up and looked at the door, expecting Harley, she was shocked to see the man at the door.

It was Tony Stark, the multimillionaire, better known as Iron Man. She had known that Tony had met Harley and camped out in his garage and had gave Harley new tools as a thank you gift but he thought that was the extent of it.

"Hi Mrs. Keener, My name is Tony Stark, how are you doing?"

She snapped out of her shock,

"I'm doing ok, thank you for asking, thank you for the tools, Harley loves them."

"Actually, that's why I'm here how is he doing?"

Now Mrs. Keener was really shocked Tony Stark was not known for his manners. "Well, he's not doing so well, Lizzie is gone and I won't be here much longer, and we have no other family. Harley is terrified, he feels so alone."

Now Tony was shocked, the poor kid didn't deserve any of this.

"Well what can I do to help?"

"Just make sure he's happy, get him a nice family to stay with."

"I think I can take care of that, let me just make some phone calls."

"Oh, Thank you Mr. Stark, Thank you so much."

Tony had had and idea, a crazy idea, but a good one.

"Jarvis, call Pep."

When Tony explained the situation to Pepper, she immediately started crying.

" Oh, poor boy, nobody deserves that, what are you going to do Tony?"

" Well, Pepper, I was thinking, how would you like to be a mom to a ten year old genius."

" What?'

"I'm gonna adopt the kid, he's changed me, and now he needs me."

" Tony, are you sure about this?"

" I know what the kids going through, it's hard to lose the only person who cares about you, and I went through that, when I lost my mom."

"Well then Tony, I would be happy to be his mom."

"Thank you, Pep, I love you"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

With that Tony hung up and walked back into the hospital room.

"Well, Mrs. Keener,"

"It's Julie, please,"

"Well, I think I have found the perfect family for Harley. They are financially well off. They are very caring and the Man is into mechanics and his girlfriend is very caring and motherly."

"Well would you give me their name, I would like to contact them."

"Well, Julie, I would give the info to you but you have no need you are talking to one of them right now."

"You want to adopt my Harley?"

" Harley, is a great kid, and he deserves a great family, and I hope we can love him as much as you do."

"Well, then I couldn't think of anyone better to take care of my son. Let me

contact my lawyer and legalize this."

"And I will fly Pepper down here right now, she needs to be here for this

she is the one to go to for legal matter."

Tony made a few more calls and a few hours later, Pepper was there talking to Mrs. Keener, who was smiling with tears in her eyes.

" Thank you, thank you so much, I know Harley will be happy with you.

I couldn't wish for anything better for my son. "

Over the next month Tony started designing a room for Harley, he also redesigned all the gadgets he had made for Harley and cleared out one of the labs and decorated it with the avenger running around it. This was to be Harley's lab, Tony had come up with the idea but Pepper had made sure it was safe and easy to operate for a kid Harley's age. Designing Harley's room hadn't been hard, Tony had designed floors for all the Avengers (except Clint and Natasha who would share a floor.) The only avenger who had moved back in with him was Bruce but Tony regularly hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D. to check up on his coworkers (he would never admit to having friends and the others wouldn't say they were friends with him, except Bruce and Thor).

Tony had heard about the incident in Greenwich with Thor, he and Bruce dove into the Norse mythology books after that to learn more about the event called the convergence. They also studied more of the theories about other dimensions, which they knew to exist as the nine realms. Cap, Natasha and Clint were with S.H.I.E.L.D in D.C. doing spywork, which Tony found funny as Cap may have spy like moves but he was horrible at being covert and lying.

Around Mid March, Tony had gotten a call from the hospital, giving him the bad news. Around one A.M. that morning Julie Keener had passed away. Tony quickly called Pepper and told her the new before boarding his private jet to go to Tennessee for the funeral and to pick up Harley.

Tony, in a black suit and tie, got out of his jet and into a car and started driving to the hospital. He needed to be there for Harley, the boy had no one to turn to. As Tony pulled up to the hospital and rushed up to the room where Harley was waiting for him he heard the social worker talking to Harley.

"Your Mom had known she was going, so she found a family, that wanted you, you'll like them a lot."

" I don't want a new family, I want my mom."

" I'm sorry Harley, but your mom is gone, she's in heaven with your sister,

She's not in pain anymore. Now are you ready to meet you new family."

" Yeah, sure, whatever."

The door creaked open, Tony got up took off his glasses, and kneeled down in front of Harley.

"Hey Kiddo, I guess you were right, we are connected."

Harley looked at him wide eyed, and then suddenly ran to Tony and hugged him crying into his shoulders. Tony awkwardly wrapped his arms around the kid.

" Hey, I might be new to this whole parenting thing but you need to know that I'm here for you. Now we are going to go say goodbye to your mom, I know it's hard. I lost my parents too. But your mom wouldn't want you to be this sad. You ready?"

"I guess."

"Good, lets go."

Tony took Harley to the car and together they drived silently to the funeral. Tony actually had tears in his eyes. Harley couldn't stop sobbing. After saying goodbye to all the mourners, they drove back to Harley's home.

" Hey Kid, you need to listen to me now, ok?"

" Ok"

" Tomorrow Morning, you and I will take the plane back to New York, Stark

Tower is all ready for you. Me and my girlfriend Pepper are going to be your

new guardians. You are going to love it. So lets get you packed."

Tony walked with Harley to his room and got all his clothes packed, some old keepsakes, science experiments, family albums, slowly they went through the house and gathered everything Harley wanted to bring with him. Finally they reached the garage. As Harley started packing his tools, Tony reached out and stopped him.

" You won't be needing those"

" Why not?"

"You'll see when we get to your new home."

"Ugh, Ok."

"Now lets go say goodbye to your friends."

Tony drove Harley to all of his friend's houses, where he told each of them he was moving to New York with his new family. Tony and Harley loaded his stuff into the car and drove to the airport where Happy was waiting for them with the private jet.

"Hey kid, I'm Happy, Pepper and Tony's bodyguard, guess that means I'm yours too."

"Mm Harley, nice to meet you."

Happy helped Harley into the plane and Tony came and sat down with him. Harley made himself comfy leaning into Tony. Before bursting into tears and crying his self to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Flying AirStark never took very long, Tony's plane was one of the fastest in the world. Harley slept peacefully, probably for the first time in a while. _The poor kid didn't deserve this,_ Tony thought, _nobody does._ _I owe it to him to make him feel better, help him get through this._ Tony woke Harley up as the plane descended, when they landed Happy picked Harley's stuff up and brought it outside. When they walked out they saw several people waiting for them.

"This is my family Harley. Meet my girlfriend Pepper, my best friend Rhodey, you already met Happy, and this is my Science Bro, Bruce," Tony said.

Rhodey was a tall African American man, he wore a military uniform but was clearly smiling. Bruce was an average sized man, with brown eyes rimmed with glasses and curly hair, he looked very nice. Pepper was a strawberry blonde woman, with lots of laugh lines, she was tall and very pretty. "Hey Harley, it's so nice to meet you, I've heard so much about you. Thank you so much for helping Tony during Christmas." Just as Pepper finished her sentence Harley had a flashback, He was back in his house with his potato gun. He kept hearing thumping noises in the garage, so he loaded his gun and crept out quietly, he walked in holding his gun and saw Ironman sitting on his couch and a guy using his tools to repair the suit! The setting changed, a goon was holding Harley and the man was trying to save him. It was really scary, but he threw the flash bomb and scared the man, saving himself.

"Harley, hey kiddo, snap out of it!" Tony said shaking the little boy.

"What's wrong sweetheart was it something I said?" Pepper asked her eyebrows creasing in concern.

"It looked like a panic attack," Bruce replied to her, "something must have happened to set it off."

"Kid, why didn't you tell me, remember I had them too, Harley. Everything is alright now though come here."

Harley snapped out of his petrified state and ran to Tony.

"It was really scary, I saw that big guy who was holding me, when I threw the bully bomb at him."

"Kid, How long have you been having flashbacks for?"

"Since right after the attack, the first time I heard about Lizzie's death and my mom's hospitalization."

"Hey, we'll help you through this, I helped Tony through his attacks and from what I understand you did too. You are part of this family, we are with you in this and everything after."

"And that was another one of Pep's Peps, thank you for listening to Stark Radio." Tony said in his best radio talk show voice, making Harley laugh.

"Now let's head home," Tony said taking Harley's hand and heading to the car. Rhodey went off in his own car after shaking Harley's hand, while the rest piled into the car and headed home to Stark Tower.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Welcome to Stark Tower, Master Harley, it is nice to finally meet you."

Harley jumped at the voice coming out of nowhere, "Who was that?"

"That was Jarvis, my AI, say hi Jarvis," Tony said smirking at his greatest creation.

"Hello again, Master Harley," Jarvis reapeated.

"Now Jarv, can you take us up to the common floor, I would like to show Harley around."

The family headed up to the common floor, it was an area with a gym, entertainment center, a kitchen, and dining area. There was also a huge human shaped pit in the floor.

"What is that pit in the floor?" Harley asked curious.

"That my friend is a memento courtesy of Loki and the big green guy over here," Tony said pointing at Bruce.

"Wait, You're the Hulk, that's so cool, I bet Loki took a real beating." Harley said jumping up and down in excitement.

"Are you bullet proof, I bet you are invulnerable, does Hulk like Tony, or does he find him super annoying?" Harley said starting up again.

"This is like when he found out I was Ironman," Tony said groaning, then turning to Harley, "If you he's cool, Rhodey is WarMachine."

"Nope, Hulk is cooler, he turn's green and smashes stuff," Harley smirked.

"Yes, I am Hulk, and I am invulnerable and me and the Hulk like Tony, but I find him annoying and Hulk doesn't," Bruce said blushingly.

"Anyway I'm gonna head down to the Lab," Bruce left and left the new family alone.

"Well Harley, you ready for the grand tour?" Tony asked.

"Not the whole tower, Tony, just the housing floors, Harley must be tired and it is getting late," Pepper scolded.

"Yes, Pepper," Tony replied mockingly, "First to the Avengers floors."

They got into the elevator and came into a room that looked straight out of the Forties. It had an old fashioned television that worked like a new one, a kitchen with appliances from the forties, and some comfy arm chairs in navy blue. There were pictures of the Howling Commandos, and 1940's Brooklyn as wallpaper. Cap would feel at home here.

"Does Cap live here?"

"Nope, the Capsicle is in D.C. right now doing some work for S.H.I.E.L.D. but Stark Tower is going to become Avengers Tower soon and will have a home for all the Avengers. Now moving on, this is the floor for Natashalie and Legolas."

"He means Black Widow and Hawkeye, they also work for S.H.I.E.L.D. who are a security network, which Tony failed to mention," Pepper filled Harley in.

The floor had Purple and Black couches and wallpaper, a small kitchen, some workout gear, and it seemed a gun and Archery range. This was obviously a perfect space to accommodate spies like Hawkeye and Black Widow. The elevator moved on to a floor with a small kitchen, purple fuzzy couches, green walls and a large room that seemed to be indestructible. It was obviously Bruce's floor.

"Why did you need that room?" Harley questioned.

"That is for when Bruce needs to Hulk out and wants to get out of everyone's way," Tony replied.

"Moving on to Point Break's floor," Harley guessed that meant Thor as he was the only Avenger beside Tony left.

Thor's floor, was more accuratley a palace, it had no kitchen or electronics, but it had the comfiest red couches, gold flooring and walls, and lots of room for a big guy like Thor to get around. The elevator moved up, this last floor was obviously Tony's and Pepper's, it had the most modern appliances, several bedrooms, red couches and cream carpets in the living area and a huge window overlooking New York.

"Welcome home, Harley, this floor is mine, Pepper's and your's. You get your own room just across the hall from Pepper's. C'mon let's go see it, we put a lot of hard work into it," Tony said smiling.

The family walked into one of the bedrooms, it had a bed made out of old tools and red and gold covers, a worktable with pen and papers, , it had the Avenger's on his wallpaper and an arc reactor lamp on his bedside table.

"Thanks, thank you so much, I love it," Harley said, jumping Tony and giving him a hug. The genius was smiling, happy to have made his new charge happy.

"Now Harley, we will go over rules tomorrow, but for now you can not go to any floor but the common floor and here without permission. If you need anything tonight you come get me or Tony, or tell Jarvis," Pepper said hugging the boy, tucking him in and leaving the room and shutting the light.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

**Apologies for any grammar mistakes and bad writing. I also don't own any of the characters marvel does. Sorry that I suck at fluff. This is just a fanfiction but I still hate others copying my ideas. I am putting all my other fics on hold to finish this one.**

Tony and Pepper quietly shut the door and headed back down to the common floor. They met with Bruce and Rhodey, who were more like brothers to Tony than friends. They plopped themselves down on the couch and took a while to notice that the two men were not staring at them and not the T.V.

Rhodey broke the silence, "So…. How do you think it's going?"

Bruce joined in, "He seems like a sweet kid Tony, if I didn't know better I think he could actually be yours and Peppers kid. I mean he has that twinkle just like yours and a spark of genius too. Though I don't want him in the lab with us, he could get hurt with all my chemicals and I have hulked out before."

"Bruce it will be fine, and the kid is pretty much a genius. He helped me rebuild the suit when it crashed in Tennessee. I guess he does remind me of me, he's got the smarts and the looks."

Rhodey snarked back, "but unlike you he is somewhat polite, I thought you said he was sarcastic?"

"The kid is but he must still be shocked after his mother's recent death, I guess that could do that to someone," Bruce said, thinking about watching his mothers own death, (it's Canon read the comics).

"This is exactly why I go to you to talk about my problems Brucey, how do you know so much about that?"

"I studied the mind a lot when I was learning to meditate, but back to the original subject, anyway how do you think the media will react, and what about Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. what will happen with them?"

Pepper took this one, "We'll keep him away from the media as long as possible and if one person finds out we will lie till he is comfortable by calling him my nephew, but we should tell Fury, and Bruce he will not be in the lab, Tony has converted one of the labs with my help to make it child safe. I think Harley will love it. And I know everything will go great."

Everyone looked a bit more optimistic with that and just when Tony was about to thank Pepper in his radio talk show voice for one of her Peps pep, she jumped on him and covered his mouth. The four talked some more, as bothered as Tony and Pepper were about the media finding out about Harley. They had decided to sit Harley down tomorrow and talk about this as well as school options for next year but that could wait, they would have Tony and Bruce teach Science and Math, Pepper would help with English and History and he would be good for the rest of the year. It was absurd to start a new school in March. Also he would talk to fury that morning and see what would happen. Harley would get a tour of the rest of the tower as well and Pepper would bring him shopping for some new clothes and toys, he had been having a growth spurt but his mom was in no shape to bring him shopping at the time.

Rhodey said he would stop by as often as possible and he was always on call for them. Bruce agreed to help teach, and he would try to be more careful about Hulking out, even though Tony and pepper didn't ask him too. He just wanted this child to be happy, he knew he and Tony didn't have happy childhoods and he wanted this kids to be different. It was a lot to think about but he would do it for Tony and Pepper, hopefully this would all turn out great.

Everyone had headed to bed, and it seemed it would be a peaceful night, but just then Jarvis woke Tony up. "Sir, you might want to know it seems Master Harley is having a nightmare, you might want to check on him." Tony immediately jumped out of bed careful not to rouse Pepper and headed to Harley's room. The little boy was shaking around in his sleep, he was murmuring. Tony recognized the symptoms, poor Harley had PTSD just like he had after New York and Afghanistan. He still had the occasional flashback but not as bad as he used to. He knelt over Harley and tried to shake him awake.

"Hey kid, wake up, it's ok, your safe, your fine, wake up, c'mon Harley, wake up!"

"No, mom! Lizzie! You can't die, I need you!" Harley cried out in his sleep.

"C'mon kid, wake up!"

"Huh, Tony? What's going on? Why you in my room?"

"Jarvis told me you were having a nightmare, are you ok?"

"I'm fine, it's just a bit weird and sudden, after I met you, I heard mom was hospitalized and Lizzie had died and then you come and my mom died and now I'm here!" Harley could barely finish his sentence he burst out crying. Tony brought the little boy toward him and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Hey, I promise everything will be fine. Now look, whenever you have a nightmare, you come find me or Pepper and we will help you. I used to have those nightmares too! My parents died when I was young and I was all alone, but I promise you will never have to be, Ok?"

"Fine, but can you stay here until I fall asleep?"

"Sure thing kid, now get some sleep!"

Tony shut the light back off, and sat at Harley's desk chair just watching and waiting, he was lulled to sleep himself by Harley's soft snores and the flickering of the city lights out the window. That's how Pepper found them in the morning, she immediately took a picture with her phone before heading to the kitchen to prepare some food.


End file.
